Greening the Empire State Building
RMI helps the world’s most famous office building reduce its energy use by nearly 40 percent.
The Empire State Building has released a breakthrough process to retrofit existing structures for environmental sustainability and announced plans to undergo a $13.2 million dollar project to reduce its energy consumption by 35 to 40 percent while saving $3.8 million annually in energy costs.
RMI's newly created website, esbsustainability.com, showcases the tools and processes that resulted from the project, and includes a video, interactive model, and information on best practices for future building retrofits.
Over the past 13 months, Rocky Mountain Institute together with consulting, design, and construction partners Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), used existing and newly created modeling, measurement and projection tools to establish a full understanding of the building’s energy use and carbon output as well as its functional efficiencies and deficiencies.
Using this new, replicable template, the Empire State Building team identified eight economically viable projects that will provide a significant return on investment, both environmentally and financially:
* Direct Digital Controls (DDC),
* Tenant Lighting, Daylighting, and Plugs,
* Variable Air Volume (VAV) Air-Handling Units (AHUs),
* Retrofit Chiller Plant,
* Building Windows,
* Tenant Energy Management Program,
* Radiative Barrier, and
* Tenant Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).
Rocky Mountain Institute acted as a design partner and peer reviewer, ensuring the building saved even more energy and money than originally was thought possible.
In the words of RMI's chairman and chief scientist, Amory Lovins, “In order to make cities cleaner and more energy efficient, there is a real need for a replicable model for retrofitting existing buildings. This global template will help to significantly reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy in buildings all over the world.”
The Empire State Building has released a breakthrough process to retrofit existing structures for environmental sustainability and announced plans to undergo a $13.2 million dollar project to reduce its energy consumption by 35 to 40 percent while saving $3.8 million annually in energy costs.
RMI's newly created website, esbsustainability.com, showcases the tools and processes that resulted from the project, and includes a video, interactive model, and information on best practices for future building retrofits.
Over the past 13 months, Rocky Mountain Institute together with consulting, design, and construction partners Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), used existing and newly created modeling, measurement and projection tools to establish a full understanding of the building’s energy use and carbon output as well as its functional efficiencies and deficiencies.
Using this new, replicable template, the Empire State Building team identified eight economically viable projects that will provide a significant return on investment, both environmentally and financially:
* Direct Digital Controls (DDC),
* Tenant Lighting, Daylighting, and Plugs,
* Variable Air Volume (VAV) Air-Handling Units (AHUs),
* Retrofit Chiller Plant,
* Building Windows,
* Tenant Energy Management Program,
* Radiative Barrier, and
* Tenant Demand Control Ventilation (DCV).
Rocky Mountain Institute acted as a design partner and peer reviewer, ensuring the building saved even more energy and money than originally was thought possible.
In the words of RMI's chairman and chief scientist, Amory Lovins, “In order to make cities cleaner and more energy efficient, there is a real need for a replicable model for retrofitting existing buildings. This global template will help to significantly reduce carbon emissions and conserve energy in buildings all over the world.”